Re: Shoot the Breeze

Keep forgetting there are others that have heard of log harvesting and milling operations.

Maine is still big into trees to mills, lumber, furniture or paper.

Millions of acres of trees, lakes and the industries involved.

In perfection and overwhelming beauty re: land on lakes in Maine. Ownership of land is by private parties or land preserves, state, fed'l kinda with a codicil, or power companies.

How's that for a winded statement. Land can be owned (pricey), leased(5-20 years)can also be pricey.

Camp is still privately owned as structure, land is a whole nother ball game. Although neighbor by 300 feet was owned and leased simultaneously for overwhelming confusion.😈👿

Our paper companies have been selling off townships worth of land in chunks as small as 10acres to as large as 500,000 acres.

So, that means my area with camp was State Land Preserve, Power company from away, and just for giggles also privately owned.

With restrictions up the posterior, or not. Had more than a few battles with regulations of the FERC and LURC varieties.

Even when I owned 10+ acres of oceanfront land, up country 4+ more hours from here.

We still have logging days in Rangeley and anywhere between there and Millinocket. Log rolling, skidders and log trucks abound.

The word neighbor takes on a whole nother meaning here, some might be 15 miles away as the crow flies or 3 hours by road. Small town mentality rocks, where you can travel 18 hours distance and still find someone who knows your next door kinda neighbor.😎And still be in Maine.

Re: Shoot the Breeze

Got a chuckle out of your neighbor story. A number of years back I called a developer who was putting in housing a few hogbacks away. I wanted to forage native medicinal plant seeds prior to the heavy equipment getting busy. I introduced myself as a neighbor. That property is maybe 3 miles south of ours. I consider all who live in the hogbacks of our county to be neighbors. It's a mindset, a lifestyle, a certain reality shared, see. Anyway, he disagreed as to my definition of neighbor, but did allow me to forage the property, which I thought was right neighborly of him.

Thanks so much for sharing the LOC images. I got lost in them yesterday and plan to go back for more later today. I know I told you I lived in/around loggers/logging operations for years. I also worked PR for logging concerns. I have what remains of one mill president's logging history book collection. Amazing feats. Amazing people all around, really.

40 bottles of alcohol in the walls. Wowee what a stash!

What a great opportunity you had to own such a glorious piece of land. Who owns it now? The government or maybe a fishing or other recreation outfitter? We've never been to Maine, but aim to fix that.

So far my fave LOC images, certainly from a picturesque point of view. The details given on the collection are quite marvelous.

Dennison Bog Brook

Long Pond

Way before my time, they used to float logs downriver through the reservation to the sawmills. I saw pictures and was friends with a fellow who worked the log barges when he was a teen. Such stories.

Thanks again for sharing all this: it's bringing back memories in flood-like fashion.

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving

The Wangan was land based, I found the photos of camp from logging days in a book and traced to LOC, after a google search. Upper Dam is big in Maine lore for fly fishing.

About all I ever found within the walls of camp were 40 bottles of booze left over from logging days and previous owners. Logging days even vanilla extract was a no no , alcohol. Most of the liquor was sealed, and well aged. Within camp, boat house, and wangan 30 pickup truck loads and boat trailer loads of treasures and trash.

From overgrown and unable to actually take a picture or drive in to darn near Paradise. And yes, I think I am still looking for another. Wangan , Camp, pump house

Re: Shoot the Breeze

@Frozenoem Yes!!! That's it! That looks like the stove I recall from the farmhouse! Did they make one with a mica panel by chance? I recall watching the fire. Maybe we had the door open some. Hm. ANyway, how that thing could heat a place. Thanks so much for the picture. I went looking for an image on the 'net yesterday, but got hung up here: https://www.pinterest.com/misspittypat/cast-iron-stoves/ I have wanted a replacement ever since having to abandon my woodfired cook stove when I left the rez for college. Sniff sniff. I'll get over it. One day.

I think Dad disassembled that pot bellied wood stove before moving it. No idea what happened to it from there: he probably sold it. His was a lifestyle calling for the quick jettison of property (one step ahead of the law and all), so he probably sold this while the selling was good.

Oh man that stove. We had the farmhouse interior ripped apart (found some antique sewing needle boxes inside the walls) as we were rennovating it, but that stove kept us warm despite the drafty abode. Ahh, yes, the memories.

And holy moley the camp sounds like heaven on earth! Such fantastic memories you must have of those days, times. Exhausting, sure, but what a great reclamation project. The location sounds like it had the power to transfix, transport and restore a soul.

Was the wangan the floating variety? Seriously, what fun. Were there actual logs afloat and waiting to be driven downstream or was it simply the surviving infrastructure? (Dangerous, those wangans, or wannigans, depending on local verancular, I think. I was once allowed to videotape workers hopping over logs in a log pond. They were grading logs. All I could think of was how that operation could go south, quick.

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving

Bought for great price but, needed TLC. No one had spent more than a weekend in it, since 2nd owners had hit their 90's, circa 1990. Slightly overgrown in trees, overstuffed no road existed until 1990 to Camp. Everything that had come in, since 1890 to 1920 came by log barge or plane or boat.

It also was surrounded by 100,000 acre land reserve, no people. We thinned trees and suddenly people saw the buildings for the first time since 1970, thought camps had been airlifted in or were new.

Have pix of stoves , might edit and toss my old nemesis pot belly upon edit, around 5' tall. It cleaned up well with vinegar to chrome, all that was required to peak interest of stove buyer. He wanted to re-finish the stove. Pix on iphone not laptop.